A Twail Analysis of Foreign Investment and Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement : Lessons from Uganda's Bujagali Hydroelectric Project

Too frequently, the study of development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) has consisted of an analysis of the social-legal aspects of displacement and resettlement including the analysis of resettlement policy frameworks, power struggles between different actors, the institutional agencies implementing policy frameworks, the level of participation in decision-making processes and the political motivations driving the displacement and resettlement exercises. There is hardly any literature that analyses DIDR from an investment perspective. Those who have studied large infrastructure projects as part of investment-related debates rarely speak directly to the issue of DIDR. While the social-legal analysis is invariably useful in articulating the challenges associated with DIDR and proposing solutions for the same, it largely underplays the tensions resulting from protecting the interests of those who invest in the projects that cause displacement. This article argues that it is difficult – if not impossible – to comprehensively deal with the challenges posed by DIDR without unpacking the various ways in which the protection of investment interests undermines resettlement and rehabilitation exercises. By documenting and analysing the international legal investment regime along with its domestification in national legal infrastructure, we are able not only to appreciate the imbalances between the protection of investment interests vis-à-vis the interests of project-affected communities, but also to design solutions that take these tensions into account